


Make the Yuletide Gay

by Jmirml



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, Developing Relationship, Drinking, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, Gen, M/M, Mild Language, Underage Drinking, jeanmarco, just gay, this is my first fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-01-04 13:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1081395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jmirml/pseuds/Jmirml
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean's new room mate is an "alright" freckled "kid".  Marco's new room mate is somewhat of an ass. </p><p>It may take a little while for the fireplace to heat up the room, but with time, all is cozy and the yuletide is decked out- in gay. </p><p>College AU that is supposed to be Christmas fluff, but has extensive background flashbacks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“What has he done?”_ thought Jean to himself, as he unlocked the door and stepped into the apartment, bags of groceries in either hand.

It wasn’t even his idea to host this year’s Christmas party.  The apartment was decked out in lights and tinsel from floor to ceiling; there were two fake trees in opposite corners of the apartment’s living room.  Garland was hung around the perimeter of the ceiling, Christmas music was blaring from the television, and colors flashed from the various decorations.  For a good ten seconds, Jean was almost convinced he had just walked into a bad Christmas, LSD induced nightmare.

            “Yah like?” called a voice.

Marco stepped out from the kitchen.  He looked ridiculous. The tall, freckled dweeb was wearing a giant red ugly Christmas sweater adorned with a cat that was wearing a Santa hat, and was surrounded by Christmas lights and fish.

            “I got you one,” grinned Marco.

Marco excitedly held out a green sweater.  Jean reluctantly took it from him, and held it up in front of himself.

            The sweater had a stupid reindeer on it surrounded by candy canes and gingerbread.  It was the most poorly designed sweater Jean had ever seen.

            Jean laughed nervously. “Marco, you don’t expect me to wear this, do you?”

            “Of course I do, everyone will be here soon, man.  Put it on!” exclaimed Marco, pushing Jean towards the bathroom.

Marco was all right.  He was a cool dude, Jean thought.  It wasn’t entirely by choice that Marco was his roommate though.  His original room mate dropped out after the first year and Sasha, who was a mutual friend, suggested Marco as a replacement.  Although Jean had thought about having one of his best friends, either Sasha or Connie, room with him, he didn’t want to have to pick between the two… and he wasn’t entirely sure he could _live_ with them. 

Since Jean was an Assistance Resident at his college, he, unlike other students, got an apartment suite that included a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.  Connie and Sasha were pretty upset at first that Jean hadn’t chosen one of them to room with him, but they eventually calmed down after Jean told them he didn’t want to have to pick between the two.

            Jean and Marco first met at a coffee place to talk about the possibility of rooming together.  Jean had seen Marco at the occasional party, or around campus every once in a while, and they exchanged the familiar hey-I-know-you smile, but this was the first time they would be talking to one another, in the same vicinity, one on one.

            “Hi I’m Marco, Marco Bodt,” said a tall, tan boy, walking across the café towards the table that Jean sat at. 

            “And you must be J-“

“Jean Kirschtein, nice to meet you”. Jean stood and greeted Marco with an open hand and the two shook.  Marco took the seat opposite Jean.

            “So yeah, basically I need a room mate and Sasha suggested you, and uh- I just wanted to see if we’d be compatible.  As room mates, you know?”

            Marco smiled. “Yeah, wathcha wanna know?”

“Well, uh, I dunno, do you sleep in?”

 _“Do you sleep in?  What kind of dumbass question was that?_ “ Jean thought to himself.  Like, what even? Why was he so bad at human interaction?

The boy across him didn’t seem to think it was that dumb of a question as he rattled on about sleeping, and how he was “pretty good with being clean, since like, his mother raised him to do chores and stuff” and, “I can totally be quite, like, I don’t make a lot of noise and I don’t snore, so that shouldn’t be a problem, I mean, I just honestly can’t stand my room mate anymore so this would be real cool man, an-“

            “Yes.”

            “Huh?” Marco looked thoroughly confused, and the freckles danced across his cheeks as his face scrunched up in confusion.

            “Yes, you can be my roommate,” said Jean.

            “Oh. Cool!”

            And that was that.  

 

* * *

 

 

            Jean creaked open the bathroom door and peeped out.  Just as he expected:  Marco was standing right outside of it, waiting.

            Jean slowly stepped out.  The tall lanky boy  was wearing a pair of jeans and his hideous red Christmas sweater. He awkwardly shuffled forward and the  Christmas lights surrounding Jean bounced off the highlights of his hair. 

Marco beamed. He glowed, just as bright as the stupid animated decorations buzzing all around them.  Jean could tell Marco was really, _really_ happy.

“This is great, these sweaters are so bad!” Marco laughed.

“Yeah, I’m so happy you got me one,” Jean replied jokingly.  He grinned and walked past Marco into the living room, purposely bumping into freckle boy's shoulder as he did so.

            

* * *

 

It took Marco about a week after he met up with Jean to completely move into Jean's apartment.

 

At first, things were a little awkward.

 

It was like any other morning, and the two boys sat at the kitchen table in complete silence.  Marco had the usual in front of him: a bowl of lumpy oatmeal, and a banana.  Jean stared absentmindedly at the wall behind Marco, yawned, got up and dragged himself in front of the coffee maker.

Jean scooped the grinds into the filter, and waited for the cup of liquid gold to brew as he bent over the counter and yawned for what had to be the tenth time that morning.  As the coffee streamed out, Jean felt hyperaware all of the sudden. The hair on his arms stood up, and he felt as if someone was watching him.   He took is mug of coffee and turned around quickly.

Marco had blatantly been staring at Jean.  It was obvious.

Marco’s cheeks flushed pink, he awkwardly stirred his oatmeal with his spoon, and Jean knew for sure that Marco had been watching him make his coffee.

“Coffee again?” Marco barked, quickly trying to cover up his obvious staring.

“Just like every other morning Marco, yes” Jean lazily said.

“But you put nothing in it?  No sugar, milk?”

“Nope, just black.”

“Yeah, just like your soul,” Marco mumbled under his breath.

Jean narrowed his eyes and shot Marco the coldest look he could as Marco chuckled to himself.

 

 

            That afternoon, Jean met with Sasha to catch up over lunch.  Jean hadn’t seen her in a week or so, the two had both been super busy with their full schedules. Jean had taken way to many classes this semester, and Sasha, well, she was just being her usual self.  Sasha had a tendency of being _all_ over the place, and had more friends and aquiantences than Jean could count.  She also had a part time job at a local super market that took up a good chunk of her time.

“Sho, howsh Marco?” asked Sasha through a full mouth of potato salad.

“Eh, it’s alright,” said Jean.

“Just that?  Alright?”

“Well yeah, I don’t know, we’re not best buds or anything, just room mates.  It’s going alright.”

“Jeez Jean,” Sasha rolled her eyes.  “I know you’re not the most talkative guy, but I mean, can’t you at least try to be somewhat friendly?”

“Who said I wasn’t friendly?” Jean angrily spat at Sasha.

Jean shoved his sandwich in his mouth.  He thought back to all the times Marco had tried to start small talk with him.  Jean would reply with a word or two and a small smile, but never really said much.

 _“God damn it, why can’t I just be somewhat of a decent person?”_ Jean thought to himself.

  _“It’s not like I purposely act cold, I just don’t know how to act around people I don’t really know.”_

Jean thought back to grade school.  The only reason he made friends was because of his backpack.  Connie and Sasha thought that it was “real cool” because it had a bunch of holographic images on it, and from then on, he was sort of pushed into Sasha and Connie’s friendship.  He loved them because of that.  Jean was just simply bad at conducting friendships; That’s how he’d been all his life.  His friends usually came to him, not vice versa.

“Look Jean,” Sasha said as she opened up a bag of chips.  “You’re an awesome guy, and you’re great to be around, but we all know you have a bit of hard time being social, or whatever it is when it comes to being around new people.”

Jean gritted his teeth.  He did not have “a hard time being social”.

“But Marco is a really cool guy, and I think you have to warm up to him a bit, you know?  The reason I recommended him was because I thought he’d make a good _friend,_ not just a good roommate.  And Marco is too nice to try to force you to be his friend… I think he’s a bit scared of you, or of stepping on your toes or something.”

_God damn it, did he really come across that way?_

“Well thanks for making me feel like a prime asshole, Sasha,” replied Jean.

Sasha laughed.  “I’m not trying to make you feel anything Jean-o, I’m just trying to _help_ , you ass.”

Jean buried his face in his hands and mumbled.  “Alright, okay.  I’ll try to not be such an ass towards the kid.  It’s something I need to work on, I know.” 

"Good," replied Sasha, as she thumbed through the screen of her phone, paying no attention to the disheveled state Jean was in.

 

"Yeah," groaned Jean. "Good."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean tries his absolute best to be decent person towards Marco. It's hard work, but it seems to be working.
> 
> Jean never knew Marco had so many freckles. Maybe he just never noticed until now.
> 
> (DEVELOPING FLUFF)

 

Jean sat himself down on the living room couch and heard Marco go back into the kitchen where he shuffled through the bags Jean had brought back.

“Really?” called Marco.

“Really what?” Jean yelled over the blaring Christmas music.

“Eggnog.  With alcohol.”

“Uh, yeah.  What’s wrong with that, freckle boy?  No fun for you?”

Marco appeared in the doorway with two glasses filled with the creamy white mixture.

“No, nothing wrong,” smiled Marco as he handed Jean a glass and sat next to him on the couch. 

“It’s just that I know we’re gonna have a ton of it.  Especially with Connie coming and all.  There’s never a lack of alcohol with him around.” continued Marco.

Jean laughed and sipped from the glass.

“I know; I’m not even supposed to have all this here.  If I were to get caught-“

“We” interrupted Marco.

“Yeah, but I’m an RA, Marco”, replied Jean.  “It wouldn’t be good.”

“Oh shut up and drink it.”

 Marco reached over Jean and ate a sugar cookie from the array of baked goods that were on the coffee table.  Sugar, butter, gingerbread cookies, candy canes, hot chocolate packets ready to be made- Jean and Marco had gone above and beyond.

“This is gonna be great. Better than Halloween” said Marco.

Jean thought back to October.

 

“Oh god, yeah. Much better.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jean walked through the apartment door after a long day at school.  Today was Tuesday, and he had had a night class that kept him in the classrooms until about 9:30PM.  It had been a few days since Jean had his discussion with Sasha about _him._

 

 _Him._   Marco was sitting on the couch, with a blanket wrapped around him, playing one of his stupid video games.

 

 _“No, not stupid- just video games.  He was playing one of his video games.”_ Jean thought to himself.

 

 Sasha’s voice had played over and over in Jean’s head the past few days.

 

_“Can’t you at least try to be somewhat friendly?”_

_“Can’t you at least try to be somewhat friendly?”_

_“Can’t you at least try to be somewhat friendly?”_

 

_“Can’t you?”_

Before he could process what he was doing, Jean’s legs were propelling him toward the couch, and he plopped next to Marco, nearly spilling the coffee he was holding.

Marco paused his video game and looked over at Jean as if he had about 10 heads.

“Whatcha doin’?” asked Jean.

  _“Did he just initiate a conversation with the dorky freckle boy?”_

Marco looked as if someone just slapped him across the face, and slightly flustered. “Huh?”

“Watcha playing?”

“Oh, um.  It’s a video game.”

“Yeah loser, I know that. _What_ video game is it?”

Marco laughed nervously.  “Oh, it’s called Attack on Titan.”

“Watcha do?” Jean turned his head towards the TV, as he pulled his legs up onto the couch.

Marco’s thumbs twiddled over the game’s controller.  “Oh, well.  It takes place a long time ago, and there are these Titans- see?” Marco nudged his head towards the TV screen, where a giant, human-like creature appeared out from behind a tree.

“And uh, these Titans, they’ve killed most of the human population, and you’re a human and you’re apart of this, army, basically, and your job is to kill them.”

“Ah, I see,” replied Jean.  He pointed to the screen. 

“Is that you,” Jean asked.

“Yup.”

 Just then, a titan popped out from behind another tree.  Marco, or rather, the video game character he was playing, swooped up into the air, towards the giant human thing’s neck.  The Titan was quick though, and it grabbed Marco by the waist, and lifted him in front of his mouth.

The TV screen then panned to a lanky, light haired man.  He swooped up and cut a chunk out of the Titan’s nape, and the massive beast dropped to the ground.  The game panned back over to the character Marco was playing as, but it was too late- Marco had died, lying on the ground, the right side of his upper body gone.

“Shit.” hissed Marco.

 

It was silent for a moment.

 

“He’s my favorite,” Marco said, pointing to the light haired boy on the television screen. 

“He’s a great character, pretty wise, and a good leader,” Marco explained.

“What’s his name?” asked Jean.

“It’s John.  Hey, sorta like you man!” Marco laughed, cheeks flushed.

Jean grinned.  An actual, genuine grin.

“Mind if I watch?” asked Jean.  He didn’t have much homework, and as of right now, he considered becoming friendly with Marco his most important homework.

“Uh yeah, sure!” Marco replied with a smile.

Jean spent the entire night watching Marco play “Attack on Titan” and listening to Marco repeatedly insist to “try it, it’s really not that hard”, to which Jean would repeatedly reply, “No, no. It’s okay, thanks though.”

“Are you sure? Here.” Marco pushed the controller into Jean’s chest.

“No man, seriously. It’s okay.  I’m having fun enough just watching you play. Really” Jean said, pushing the controller back.

Marco blushed and his freckles turned to a deep crimson brown instead of the usual chocolate brown that they normally were.  Marco kept playing.

 

After a minute or two of silence, Jean spoke up.

 

“I never really liked video games,” said Jean as Marco continued playing.

Marco tried to make a sharp right turn with the controller, and leaned into Jean as he did so.

“Sorry,” said Marco, concentrating on the screen.

“Itsalright” said Jean quickly.

“So, what was that? No video games?” asked Marco.

“Nah, I was more into sports I guess.”

“Yeah?  Like what, football? High school jock? Getting all the ladies? Ladies man?” Marco took his eyes of the screen for a second to look over at Jean and jokingly wink.

“Nah, swimming actually.” Jean replied, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at his lap. 

“Oh yeah, so you swim?”

“Well, I used to, I mean I don’t know” replied Jean.  _“God, why am I so awkward”,_ he thought.

“Oh cool.  Wanna know something stupid Jean?” Marco asked, still looking at the screen, his character back alive and dodging Titans.

“What man.”

“I don’t know how to swim.”  Marco’s face turned the slightest shade of pink.

“Well that’s not stupid.  I guess I’ll just have to teach you how this summer!”

Marco laughed and his face turned the _deepest_ shade of pink.

“I guess so then!  I’ll hold ya to it.” Marco must have not been paying that much attention to the video game at that point, because another titan took ahold of him and hurled him against a building.

 

Later that night, Jean lay in bed, thinking about the past few hours.

 _“I did it,”_ he thought.  “ _I wasn’t an ass for once.”_

He smiled to himself as he closed his eyes to go to sleep, but as he did, he wasn’t just thinking about how nice he had been to Marco.

He was thinking about the boy’s freckled face, and how he tended to bite his lower lip when he was concentrating on his stupid game, and how Freckles had smelled of something nice when he leaned into Jean when he was playing the video game.  Jean wasn’t sure what “nice” smelled like, but whatever it was, Marco smelled like it.

 

 

When Jean awoke the next morning, he didn’t recall a single one of his thoughts from last night.

* * *

_**THUD THUD THUD**. _

The Christmas decorations shook all around them.

Jean gasped.  “Well we know who that is,” he said to Marco as he slowly got up from the couch.  Jean rolled his eyes, and Marco giggled.

Another _**THUD THUD**_ came from the door.

“Alright, calm the fuck down Connie, why dontcha break down the door while you’re at it?” yelled Jean through the door as he turned the knob.

The door swung upon to reveal a group of 6 or so of their friends, all holding various trays or bags, and shivering from having just got out of the cold.

Connie suddenly let out a bolt of laughter.

“What the fuck’s wrong with you, man?” spat Jean.

“Oh man, you look great Jean, just great.” Connie bopped the nose of the reindeer on Jean’s sweater as he pushed pass him.

“Hey man,” Connie nodded towards Marco.

“Merry Christmas,” Marco smiled at the group.

The six of them heaved into the living room and dropped the array of bags on the floor around them. 

Mostly alcohol.

The Christmas party had begun.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the fluff isn't developing painstakingly slow. I liked this chapter, I hope you did too! 
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone! I really want to post the last chapter on Christmas eve, so that'll give myself a dead line. 
> 
> What happened on Halloween? Stay tuned to find out! Thankyou!<3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eggnog, Christmas carols and 'Never Have I Ever'?

Christmas music blasted from Connie’s laptop. The tinsel around them shook.

“Connie, seriously, lower that! I’m an RA a–“

“Jesus fuck Jean, relax man. It’s fucking Christmas music and it’s only 9 o’clock on a Saturday,” Connie yelled over the music.

Jean reached over Marco and lowered the volume anyway. Jean and his friends- Marco, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, Bert, Annie, Krista and Ymir sat around the coffee table on the living room floor.

“So let’s get this started, shall we?” Annie reached for the eggnog and cracked it open. She poured a considerate amount into each cup until she reached Jean.

“Mmmnnno thanks- not really into eggnog” Jean interrupted, holding Annie back from pouring.

“MAN, stop being so uptight” Connie yelled, as he gulped down the last of his drink that Annie had just poured him nearly 20 seconds ago.

“Shut the fuck up man” Jean sharply replied.

Marco and Sasha exchanged an uncomfortable glance as Jean got up from his seat and started walking into the kitchen. He could hear his group of friends snickering and laughing from the living room. After a few minutes he came back with a piping hot cup of coffee and sat back on the floor, cross legged, between Marco and Sasha.

“What a pompous prick you are man,” Connie said. “Can’t even drink with us”.

“Yeah.” Jean smirked, pulling a large bottle of amaretto out from under the coffee table. He unscrewed it, and poured a generous amount into his coffee, locking eyes with Connie the entire time. 

Connie rolled his eyes, and the rest of his friends laughed.

For a while the group talked about their plans for winter break. They sloppily sang Christmas songs, and drank a lot of egg nog. Jean – not realizing – had already gone through almost the entire bottle of amaretto.

“Guys, I got an idea,” stated Connie.

“Oh no,” joked Annie. “This can’t be good.”

“Shut up, Annie,” Connie said chuckling. “This is a pretty big group, let’s play never have I ever!”

A loud groan came from the entire group.

“Come onnnnn, it’ll be fun!” Exclaimed Connie as he sipped from his beer that he had just pulled out of his backpack.

Jean looked over at Marco who gave him a drunken grin.

“Fine alright Connie. You begin.”

“Alright.” Connie cleared his throat and poured everyone a bit more eggnog.

“Now just a reminder. We go around in a circle, saying ‘never have I ever…’ and then you say something you’ve never done. If someone in the circle HAS done that, they have to drink. If not, they don’t. No questions or comments if someone has drank . Everyone understand?”

“Yeah Connie, come on, go” said an annoyed Ymir.

“Fine,” Connie barked. “Never have I ever kissed someone of the same sex”.

 Ymir rolled her eyes.

“Ugh Connie, you jerk”, said Ymir. Krista looked over at her, giggled and the two took a sip of eggnog.

The couple had been together for as long as anyone could remember. The question was obviously for them. But just as Connie was about to start the next round of questions, Bert and Reiner quickly glanced at each other...

“WHA?” howled Connie.

and reluctantly and slowly took a sip of eggnog.

“NO WAAAA-“ bellowed Connie, who was interrupted by a loud slap across the face by Sasha.

“Shut up Connie, no commenting! That’s party of the rules!”

Connie rubbed his face and moaned a bit while his friends laughed. As they laughed, Jean and Marco locked eyes for a split second. Marco turned the slightest tint of pink. Maybe he was flushed from the alcohol.

“Come on, lightweight. You go.” Jean nudged Marco’s shoulder.

“Me? Lightweight?” Marco sheepishly leaned into Jean’s face.

“Fine. I’ll go. Never had I ever-“ started Marco.

“It’s have, Marco. Never have I ever” laughed Jean.

“Never haverever,” slurred Marco, inching closer to Jean, “Never have Iever slept in the same bed as my roommate”.

Jean felt a sudden relief and looked around at the group. Annie, Bert, Reiner, Ymir and Krista all took a gulp as he, Marco, Sasha and Connie snickered and laughed.

“I’LL GO”, Reiner nearly screamed. He looked Jean dead in the eye and cleared his throat.

“Never have I ever gotten drunk on a hay ride and fallen asleep on top of my roommate!”

"Cool Reiner, cool". Reiner laughed as Jean drank from his coffee. Jean felt Marco’s eyes on him, but Jean kept his glance forward, straight into Reiners' eyes.

Reiner kept looking back and forth from Jean to Marco, smirking. 

Jean drank and drank, until he finished the mug, and slammed it down on the table.

He hiccuped.

Reiner, Annie and Bert burst into laughter. Everyone else awkwardly laughed, and Marco mechanically patted Jean’s leg.

“It’s alright Jeeean”, Marco murmured. “We all know it wasn’t a big deal”

Jean slapped Marco’s hand off him and stumbled away from his friends, away from the Christmas music, and into the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

Jean marched through the piles of leaves that had gathered around campus. He had a coffee in one hand, and a stack of books tucked under his other arm.

Jean thought about how fast time had slipped past him. It was suddenly October, and Halloween was right around the corner. Mid terms were this week, and Jean had been pulling all-nighters studying for them.

“ _Thank god its Friday,_ ” Jean thought to himself. _“I can’t wait to just lay down and not think at all_ ”.

He walked up the staircase of his dormitory, walked down the hall, fumbling with his keys until he reached his apartment door.

He let out a large sigh.

On the apartment door, scribbled out in Sasha’s iconic chicken-scratch handwriting was a note:

_“We’re going out tonight. 7PM, our place. Bring Marco”._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't updated this lovely piece in almost 2 years...  
> I got a sudden urge to finish this, and I REALLY apologize for the hiatus. Life has gotten busy!  
> But I will definitely finish this in the next month or so (this summer!)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
